ARN - Hell in a Cell 2015 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Hell in a Cell 2015 

Hell in a Cell 2015 happened on October 25 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Cali with a reported attendance of 17,505. It was a legitimate turn-away crowd. It was the seventh Hell in a Cell event and was the first PPV other than Summerslam held in LA since No Way Out 2007.

2015 was the last Hell in a Cell before the reintroduction of the brand extension in July, 2016, so the next two years of the event will be show-specific. But tonight’s card is a supercard by any definition.

Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt; New Day vs. the Dudleys; John Cena’s open challenge for the US championship; Charlotte Flair vs. Nikki Bella; and of course, the main event...Brock vs. the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match.

This seems like the right way to stack an event and make it “must see TV,” don’t you think?

First though, let’s examine some news headlines from around this time.

At a media event on 10/27, UFC Star Ronda Rousey said that her goal was to retire as UFC champion and then try to win a world title in boxing, a world title in Jiu Jitsu and then win the WWE Divas title.

She skipped right to the WWE part, which worked out okay - right?

Dwayne Johnson has added another new endorsement deal, this time with Under Armour. Johnson mentioned it while Under Armour has just said talks were going on. Johnson also noted that he just got the news this week that San Andreas was Warner Brothers’ biggest grossing movie of 2015 with $475 million worldwide. He noted that unlike some of his or other blockbusters, this wasn’t a franchise movie or based on a book or theme park. So far in 2015, the movie is 15th for the year domestically and 10th for the year worldwide

Now it’s 2020 and the Rock is even bigger than ever. What is your favorite movie from The Rock?

Paige did a really good job on Conan O’Brien on 10/22. The funny part of that appearance is that WWE never plugged it on TV, and she was on plugging Hell in a Cell, a show she didn’t have a match (and only had a brief cameo in) on and Conan told viewers to watch her on that show. She mostly told funny stories about growing up in a wrestling family and her brothers breaking blocks of ice over the heads of guys who liked her

Why doesn’t the company promote it more when one of their stars is on late night TV? That used to be a big deal.

Jerry Lawler did an interview at Comic Con and said there's a good possibility of Smackdown going live in January when it goes to USA. There has at least been talk of starting out with a live special, and there has also been talk of moving the show to Tuesday and going live. It would increase costs somewhat. Live on Thursday wouldn't make as much sense as that would be a huge cost increase, plus be somewhat worse for talent. The office would have to fly out to a new city twice a week instead of once. So that's why if it does go live, Tuesday would seem to work best. You can look at the live vs. taped numbers for Raw the few times a year it is taped, and the occasional live Smackdown specials, not to mention the few live TNA shows and the ratings never show a difference.

Was it the right move for Smackdown to go live? Did that help WWE get the Fox deal, in your opinion?

WWE signed William Shatner to narrate "Breaking Ground," its 10-episode documentary that will be airing right after Raw on Monday nights starting 10/26 on the WWE Network. The show is patterned after "Hard Knocks," the very popular reality series on HBO about the NFL. They are offering the first episode for free on both their Facebook and YouTube pages, which makes a lot of sense to do, using the episode to try and push people to subscribe to the network for the remaining episodes. The show will focus on the training and the background of talent in NXT trying to get to NXT television, and those on NXT, trying to get to the main roster. WWE and Kevin Dunn are producing the show along with 3 Ball Entertainment, which is the company that does Bar Rescue, Catch a Contractor and Sweat Inc. on Spike TV and Extreme Weight Loss on ABC.

Shatner has a long running history of being involved with the WWE. Have you ever met him and are you a fan? Have you seen Breaking Ground?

Reports that the first shot episode of the NXT kids pilot show that we wrote about last week was surprisingly good. Basically it's remixed NXT matches with Corey Graves as a babyface announcer working with two 12-year-olds who are clearly not scripted and are weirdly entertaining going off on different trains of thoughts while watching the matches. For example, while watching one of the women from Australia wrestle, the kids start calling the woman Kangaroo woman and the kids and Graves go off on a tangent about Kangaroos. They also have kids doing interviews. Graves is said to do a real good job of holding the 30 minute show together.

Doesn’t an NXT kids show just sound kind of fun?

Now time for the event itself!

Readers of the observer loved this show, too, giving it overwhelming Thumbs up with 148 votes or (89.2%). No one voted Thumbs Down! 10.8 percent voted in the middle.

An interesting story from the event was that security was removing all “Young Bucks” signs they could find.

1. Dolph Ziggler & Cesaro & Neville beat Rusev & King Barrett & Sheamus in 11:33. Stardust & The Ascension were at ringside with signs reading the “Stardust section” to spoof the “Cesaro section” signs. They ended up playing no part in the match. They got heat on Ziggler. Cesaro hot tagged in and was nailing all three guys with running uppercut bolos. Then he did a rolling bodyblock off the apron on Sheamus, running uppercuts on Rusev and Sheamus outside the ring and a crossbody on Barrett for a near fall. He set up the giant swing on Barrett, but it was broken up. He backdropped Rusev out of the ring and then did a spot where he backflipped Neville over the top rope, where he did a Fosbury Flop dive onto Sheamus and Rusev. Barrett went for the bull hammer, but Cesaro ducked. Ziggler superkicked Barrett, Cesaro gave him a 16 rep giant swing, and tagged Neville, who pinned Barrett after the red arrow. ***¼

What did you think of the match?

What did you think of how they were booking Cody Rhodes here?

The next match is the John Cena US Title Open Challenge! It’s been a program that has lasted for months, now, and has become an attractive TV segment. Unfortunately, this is the end of the open challenge.

2. Alberto Del Rio pinned John Cena to win the U.S. title in 7:46. Fans were singing “John Cena sucks” to his music. Cena brought up the open challenge. Zeb Colter came out in a motorized wheelchair and introduced Del Rio, who got a big pop. He’s a lot bigger and more muscular than before. He took a big bump through the ropes to the floor, but was up seconds later and beating on Cena. He used a step up enzuigiri with Cena on the top rope for a near fall. They had a bad looking exchange of punches. Fans were booing the Cena comeback, and Del Rio got the pin out of nowhere with the backstabber and superkick. **

As good of a pop as it was for Del Rio to win here, fans online weren’t happy that months of building this cool segment we thought would eventually be used to establish a new top level performer was instead used to bring back an already established top guy in Del Rio.

Did you agree with Del Rio being the one to win the belt from Cena?

Who else might have been the right choice? (Cody? Cesaro?)

The two top guys of 2020 WWE are facing off next in a Hell in a Cell - it’s The Big Dog vs. Bray Wyatt - pre-Fiend edition. Here’s how we got here

At Battleground, Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns after interference from Luke Harper. At SummerSlam, Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Wyatt and Harper. At Night of Champions, Wyatt, Harper and Braun Strowman defeated Reigns, Ambrose and Chris Jericho. On the September 21 episode of Raw, Randy Orton helped Reigns and Ambrose fend off an attack by Wyatt, Harper and Strowman. Subsequently, Reigns challenged Wyatt to a Hell in a Cell match at the event, which Wyatt accepted. A match pitting Ambrose and Orton against Harper and Strowman was also scheduled for the Hell in a Cell Kickoff pre-show but after Orton suffered a Shoulder injury, the match was cancelled.

3. Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt in 23:03 in a Hell in a Cell match. This was worked at a 70s style pace, very slow, but trying to make everything mean something. The moves were all modern, but it was just slow by modern standards. Wyatt started using kendo stick shots, hitting Reigns hard in the back. The crowd got into that. He kept using the kendo stick shots to try and build sympathy on Reigns, but the crowd was cheering Wyatt. Reigns threw Wyatt into a chair in the ring and started destroying Wyatt with two kendo sticks. Reigns set up a table on the floor. They teased Reigns suplexing Wyatt off the apron through the table, but instead, Wyatt used a uranage off the apron to put Reigns through the table. Wyatt was beating on him with forearms. He set up a superplex through a table in the ring, but Reigns blocked it and power bombed Wyatt through the table. Wyatt tried a Sister Abigail, but Reigns used a schoolboy for a near fall. Reigns used the Superman punch for a near fall. He then speared Wyatt off the apron through a table. He tried a spear in the ring, but Wyatt kicked him and hit Sister Abigail, but Reigns kicked out. Wyatt then put two kendo sticks in the corner and went to throw Reigns’ eye into the sticks that were sticking out. Reigns was selling like he was dead, but recovered and blocked Wyatt, grabbed a kendo stick and hit Wyatt and then threw Wyatt into the exposed stick in the corner, with the idea it hit the eye. Reigns then got the pin with a spear. Crowd got into it late. ***¾

What did you think of the match?

For many fans, they wanted to see Bray Wyatt go over and get the monster push that, well, he would eventually receive. What did you want to see happen here?

Two tag-teams that will probably both be in the history books faced off in our next contest: the New Day and the Dudleys.

Here’s how we got here: At Night of Champions, The Dudley Boyz had defeated WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day by disqualification, therefore not winning the titles. At Live from Madison Square Garden, a WWE Network special, The Dudley Boyz again won by disqualification. This led to another rematch for the title at Hell in a Cell.

4. Kofi Kingston & Big E retained the tag titles beating the Dudleys in 8:24. No Xavier Woods, as they used his going through the table on Raw as an injury angle. He actually got married this past weekend. The New Day came out with a broken trombone and called Bubba Ray the Caucasian Kamala. They started patting their own bellies while the crowd chanted “New Day Rocks.” There was a messed up double-team legdrop that the crowd booed and John Layfield even called “butt ugly.” Bubba made a hot tag and patted his belly like Kamala when making his comeback. Kingston hit both Dudleys with a missile dropkick. He then brought in the trombone behind the refs back, threw it at Bubba and went down, doing the heel Arena Mexico fake foreign object finish spot. The ref acted like he was going to DQ Bubba for using the trombone that he didn’t use, but the ref changed his mind. Bubba broke the tombstone. But Big E hit Bubba with the trombone behind the refs back and Kingston pinned him with Trouble in Parade. **½

Let’s talk about the background to the next match. We’re in the middle of the Divas Revolution, which began with the #GiveDivasAChance movement following a 30 second RAW match between the Bellas and Paige and Emma on February 23, 2015. On July 13’s RAW, Nikki Bella claimed there were no challengers for her championship, prompting Stephanie McMahon to bring in Charlotte, Becky and Sasha Banks, then-NXT Women’s Champion as the newest additions to the roster. The women’s division split into three teams: Team Bella, Team BAD, and The Submission Sorority. That was an unfortunate decision as it was a name linked to porn. So instead, they went with Team PCB

What did you think about the name Submission Sorority?

The teams faced off at Summerslam in a three team elimination match, where Becky Lynch won. On the August 31 episode of Raw, Nikki introduced the Bellatron timer which counted down the remaining time until she surpassed the record for the longest–reigning Divas champion of all time. She eventually did, surpassing AJ Lee's previous record of 295 days.

Then on September 20 at Night of Champions, Nikki lost the championship to Charlotte, ending her reign at 301 days.

Was that done just to keep AJ Lee from having the record?

Tonight is the rematch.

5. Charlotte beat Nikki Bella to retain the Divas title in 10:39. All the women were banned from ringside. This was the best WWE women’s match on a PPV show in a while. Nikki pretty much carried the action beating Charlotte down early. Charlotte injured her nose, apparently a bad bruise and a cut on the bridge of the nose. The funniest spot in a long time came when Nikki came off the top rope to do a superkick. She was supposed to miss, and did. But the hilarious part is that she’s gotten so used to slapping her thigh when delivering a kick for sound, that when she went for the flying kick, she instinctively slapped her thigh even though she was missing. Nikki tried a German superplex, but Charlotte flipped over and landed on her feet. She didn’t have a smooth landing and could have easily messed up one or both ankles. Charlotte speared her and went for the figure eight. The story is that Nikki had worked on her back so she couldn’t bridge, and Nikki reversed the figure four. She also gave Charlotte an Alabama slam on the ring frame. The finish saw Nikki go for the rack attack, but Charlotte reversed into a cradle and then locked in the figure eight for the submission. After the match, Paige and Becky Lynch came out to congratulate Charlotte. Paige shoved Lynch away so she could congratulate Charlotte first. ***¼

Did you enjoy this match?

What do you think about the achievements in women’s wrestling since 2015, especially Charlotte?

As the late great Howard Finkel would say, our next contest is for the WWE championship.

At Night of Champions, Kane returned from injury as "Demon" Kane and attacked Seth Rollins after Rollins retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Sting. At the network special Live from Madison Square Garden, Demon Kane attacked Rollins after Rollins lost to John Cena in a steel cage match. Subsequently, Rollins was scheduled to defend his title tonight against Demon Kane at the event, but that should Demon Kane lose, Corporate Kane, Kane's alter ego, would be fired from his role as Director of Operations

6. Seth Rollins pinned Kane to retain the WWE title in 14:36. Kane had a new mask. Rollins went for a tope, but got punched as he came through the ropes. Rollins did a running flip dive where he nailed Kane like he was doing a flying ax kick. Rollins worked him over, but Kane hit a superplex. Kane backdropped his way out of a pedigree, and choke slammed Rollins for a near fall. Kane went for the tombstone, but Rollins escaped and ran out of the ring. Kane gave him a sidewalk slam on the English announcers table. The Fireball Kid, Jerry Lawler, then told them that the Spanish table was over there. Kane went for a choke slam outside the ring through a table, but Rollins escaped and power bombed Kane through the Spanish announcers table. The table didn’t break and he landed badly. They teased a count out but Kane got in at nine. Rollins then used two springboard knees and two superkicks, followed by a frog splash, but Kane kicked out. The crowd started chanting “Eddy” loudly after the frog splash. Kane came back and went for a choke slam, but Rollins kicked him in the chest and hit the pedigree for the pin. ***½

What did you think here and what did you think of the story involving Kane’s alter egos both being on TV?

7. Kevin Owens pinned Ryback in 5:33 to retain the IC title. Ryback tried a press slam early but couldn’t lock him out. He also delivered a delayed suplex. Owens set up a cannonball but Ryback instead countered with a spinebuster. The crowd booed Ryback and cheered Owens, but still got into the “Feed Me More” chant when Ryback played to them. Ryback hit a power bomb, but Owens kicked out. He hit the clothesline and went for shell shock, but Owens escaped and hit the pop up power bomb out of nowhere. Ryback sold the eye like it had been poked. Too short. *¾

Why do you think Ryback was getting a negative reaction from the fans here? What did you think of his work? What about Kevin Owens?

We’ve arrived at our main event and the final chapter between the long feud between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar.

Without getting into the faceoff at UFC, or their feud in the early 2000s on Smackdown, here’s the summary of the build. At WrestleMania XXX the year before, Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to end the streak. Battleground 2015, Lesnar was about to defeat Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, when the lights went out and Undertaker attacked Lesnar

After a vicious brawl between the two on Raw, they would face in a rematch at SummerSlam. Undertaker defeated Lesnar in controversial fashion; the timekeeper ringing the bell after seeing the Undertaker supposedly indicating submission; since the referee hadn't see a submission and never stopped the match, the match continued. The confusion allowed Undertaker to surprise Lesnar with a low blow before trapping him in the Hell's Gate submission hold, causing Lesnar to pass out, giving Undertaker the win.

Lesnar was scheduled to face Undertaker one last time in a Hell in a Cell match at tonight’s event. It’s actually their second Hell in a Cell encounter, with the first being 13 years before at No Mercy in October, 2002.

Did you like the build to this third match? Do you remember concerns about the two having had this match before, both recently and years back?

Whatever concerns may or may not have existed didn’t stop this match from exceeding expectations. It won the best match of the night poll by fans of the Observer and it wasn’t even close.

8. Brock Lesnar pinned Undertaker in 18:01 of a Hell in a Cell match. Lesnar was enormous. Undertaker physically didn’t look in nearly as good a shape as he did for SummerSlam. There were dueling chants of “Suplex City” and “Undertaker.” The crowd didn’t want to boo either guy. The match had super heat, far beyond anything else on the show. Lesnar bled early after being thrown into the post. Lesnar came back with a chair to Undertaker’s back. They opened the door for the doctor to get in. He started wiping the blood off Lesnar’s head and face, as the guy was bleeding everywhere. Plus, Lesnar sweats like crazy which causes the blood to go all over his head and face. The crowd booed the doctor stopping the match. Lesnar started using chair shots on Undertaker. He aimed one for the head, also illegal, but Undertaker clearly blocked it with his hands. The other ones went to the back and to the arm. Lesnar whipped Undertaker into the cage, took off his glove and punched Undertaker. Undertaker suplexed Lesnar, who was bleeding badly again, and slammed his throat into a chair. Lesnar used three German suplexes and an F-5 for a near fall. The doctor came back to wipe the blood off Lesnar and Undertaker. Lesnar shoved the doctor away and hit another F-5, but Undertaker kicked out again. Lesnar threw the ring steps at him for a near fall. Lesnar had the steps, and Undertaker was supposed to kick the steps into him. This was mistimed. But Lesnar had to basically direct the steps to land on his face. Undertaker used Hell’s Gate, but Lesnar punched his way out and did some great looking ground and pound. Lesnar then undid the canvas, removed some of the padding, but Undertaker choke slammed him on the boards. Undertaker went for the tombstone piledriver. The idea was he’d do it directly on the boards, but he did it in a spot right next to where the padding was removed. Lesnar kicked out. Lesnar then used a low blow, basically retribution for the two low bows Undertaker had given him, and did the F-5 on the exposed boards for the pin. Lesnar left the cage and Undertaker laid out for a long time. Fans were screaming for him to sit up, which he tried and finally did. There were loud “Thank you Taker” chants and then he got a standing ovation. ****1/4

Before we say anything else, give us your thoughts on this match?

Just as the crowd noise peaked, the lights went out and The Wyatts came out. They surrounded Undertaker outside the ring and then all attacked him. They held him down while Braun Strowman threw knees and Wyatt beat on him until they carried him out of the ring to the back on their shoulders. Meltzer said this was a great angle.

The next night on Raw, Bray Wyatt explained that he wanted to claim The Undertaker's Soul and obtain its powers. Kane then tried to attack Wyatt but got ambushed and attacked by The Wyatt Family and was also carried out to the backstage. It would lead to a match between the Wyatts and the Brothers of Destruction at Survivor Series.

Did you like how this angle started immediately after the match with Brock? Are there any changes you would have made to the way this was executed?

But there’s another story that came out of the event besides that and the return of Del Rio. The double juice in the Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker main event.

Here’s what Meltzer wrote:

With Lesnar bleeding badly, there was a commotion at the Gorilla position with Vince McMahon. Whether he was upset or putting on a show and acting upset to everyone else there is a matter of conjecture. He sent a doctor to the ring. The doctor was in there and tried to clean the blood off. But at one point, Lesnar shoved the doctor.

Neither Lesnar nor Undertaker were reprimanded or talked to by Vince McMahon or anyone about these incidents after the show. Lesnar had his cut taken care of and flew back home. Undertaker also went home the next day.

Did you see Vince upset - or acting upset - backstage in Gorilla?

Meltzer went on to say...

WWE sent out a statement after the show basically saying that the practice of blading is banned, but sometimes there are accidental cuts.

What I can say with 100 percent certainty, is that the blood was not an accident. The coincidence of Lesnar doing the exact same spot and coming up bloody in the exact same way as in WrestleMania was not coincidental. Whether he hit the post and opened his head up, or cut himself, it was his intent to get blood. The idea that he took his right glove off and drilled Undertaker, meant the same thing. The question there is that typically when someone is looking to get hard way juice, a practice that went out of vogue in wrestling decades ago, the idea was short punches to the eye brow, where the skin and bone makes it the easiest to open up. Undertaker bled from the forehead, the same spot where wrestlers would normally cut themselves.

Do you agree the blood was planned, even if it wasn’t a blade job?

As we mentioned already, the BEST MATCH POLL was won by Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker 162; The WORST MATCH POLL went to Kevin Owens vs. Ryback 111, with second place for the New Day vs. Dudleys.

Give us your overall thoughts on Hell in the Cell 2015.

Questions!

Jeremy asks...Why do you think the wwe didn't turn roman heel way sooner. He is a heel now and I absolutely love it and it's getting positive reactions. Do you think they see it now and maybe wish they done it sooner? #AskArn

Captain Zack asks...Do you think At this point in undertakers career that he was seen as a legitimate threat to Brock or do you think this match was booked more as a spectacle? #AskArn

Jake T asks...#AskArn Was there Any consideration for the undertaker to go over brock lesnar in hell in a cell

NIck has an interesting question...Was there ever any discussion to try and dissuade the company from multiple HIAC’s in one night? Brock v Taker is special, event worthy, but surely more matches on card with it devalues the gimmick. What’s the thinking behind it?

Mike Cohen wants to know...what was Arn’s impressions of Kevin Owens' booking WWE during this time period ?